ThinPrint Bloghttps://blog.thinprint.com
All About PrintingTue, 18 Jul 2017 10:17:24 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.8https://blog.thinprint.com/uploads/tp/sites/6/2016/07/favicon.pngThinPrint Bloghttps://blog.thinprint.com
3232Microsoft CSP can sell Windows 10 licenses as part of their subscription service, but is the struggle really over?https://blog.thinprint.com/microsoft-csp/
Tue, 18 Jul 2017 10:13:46 +0000https://blog.thinprint.com/?p=301Microsoft licensing for service providers has always been a struggle, resulting in cumbersome workarounds. Now it seems that Microsoft will finally fully support service providers in what they want to do , Take a look at this Microsoft announcement. The question remains though – What will licensing restrictions and pricing look like? How long for example will licenses be available for a user or virtual machine?

Microsoft CSP can sell Windows 10 licenses as part of their subscription service

Microsoft announced, that from September on, virtualization user rights will be coming to Windows 10 subscriptions in the Microsoft CSP (Cloud Solution Provider) program. This goes for both desktops hosted on Azure and for 3rd party hosting partners.

For service providers that want to host desktops, this seems like the news of the year. They can finally sell Windows 10 licenses with their offering, even outside of Azure. So they can now really sell the car without having to ask the customer to license the motor somewhere else.

Microsoft licensing for service providers has always been a struggle, resulting in cumbersome workarounds. In the beginning there were no rules at all. VECD and then VDA step by step introduced rules and more and more options, but in the end didn’t really deliver what was needed. Service providers were running Windows Servers for each user instead of virtual desktops in order to enable feasible licensing. This might read like a joke in the future, but unfortunately was common practice for a long time.

In the first place, it was very difficult to even understand how to license correctly. Some consider Microsoft licensing to be a black art. There were blog posts, articles, flyers and workshops dealing with it. Wordings combined Software Assurance, SPLA, FPP, Volume- and more licensing options with different operating systems, roaming users, company owned devices, exceptions, rules for exceptions and finally ended in “ask your Microsoft sales person”. Abbreviations sometimes took on a life of their own (e.g. the V in VECD seamlessly turned from Vista to Virtual).

The main issue for a long time was that licensing remained device based. If a user had non-Windows devices like a thin client and an iPad, he needed to license them separately. This made costs unpredictable and too expansive for many businesses. Things improved when using Azure, but this was not helping service providers who wanted to add value with their own hosting centers.

Now it seems that Microsoft will finally fully support service providers in what they want to do. Take a look at the Microsoft announcement. The question remains though – What will licensing restrictions and pricing look like? How long for example will licenses be available for a user or virtual machine?

So we’ll have to keep an eye on more news coming from Microsoft. : To make your hosted desktop complete, no matter which Microsoft licenses are used, don’t forget to include ThinPrint.

]]>Secure Printing in Accordance with EU General Data Protection Regulationshttps://blog.thinprint.com/secure-printing/
Fri, 07 Jul 2017 08:53:32 +0000https://blog.thinprint.com/?p=296In May 2018, the EU General Data Protection Regulation becomes mandatory. We tell you how to realize secure printing in accordance with this regulation.

Secure Printing: Significant data security weaknesses during the printing process can be all too easily verlooked.

IT administrators and those responsible for security have little time remaining to deal with the upcoming EU regulation on data protection. From May 25, 2018 onwards, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR) becomes mandatory. It unifies all regulations on the processing of personal data in EU member states. Protection of personal information will be significantly improved – with free data traffic throughout the European internal market. This regulation is binding for both private companies as well as public authorities. In particular, companies are looking to overcome the challenges at an early stage. Significant data security weaknesses during the printing process can be all too easily overlooked. Nonetheless, this area is one that companies need to deal with in a timely manner.

This applies in particular to:

Sending unencrypted data to the printer

Storing unencrypted data on print servers or printer storage

Printing to an incorrect printer

Printouts falling into unauthorized hands after output at the printer

Data leaks on paper in principle can have just as devastating consequences as purely digital data losses. Legal and financial penalties also come into play when unsecured print processes are in place.

ThinPrint: Secure Printing in Accordance with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation

Easy yet Secure Printing: Personal Printing with ThinPrint

A further security threat exists when printouts fall into the wrong hands. Protection against such data loss is provided by Personal Printing. The ThinPrint solution offers a form of follow-me-printing. Print jobs are only outputted if the document owner personally authenticates at the relevant printer. This ensures that only the right employee is given his or her printouts.

ThinPrint’s Personal Printing easily and simply eliminates the risk of data loss: If a data leak occurs, the number of people involved can be significantly reduced, often to just one person.

White Paper on the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation

ThinPrint offers a detailed whitepaper on the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation – “What to Consider for Network Printing.” Here you will find practice-oriented aspects of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation as well as network printing basics. The reader is introduced to critical points of attack that can take place during the printing process. The text also shows how to avoid those weaknesses in order to ensure compliance with the EU’s new General Data Protection Regulation.

]]>Best Practice: Thin Client Printing using RDP or ICA/HDXhttps://blog.thinprint.com/thinclient-printing/
Wed, 05 Jul 2017 12:39:32 +0000https://blog.thinprint.com/?p=286In this article we show you how to realize thin client printing with ThinPrint. We give you tons of options for the best fit into your environment.

]]>Have you bought or plan to buy thin clients using Microsoft Remote App, Microsoft RDSH (Terminal Server), VDI or Citrix XenDesktop, Citrix XenApp? Have you considered how your users would be able to print? Well that’s what ThinPrint is here for (amongst many other things). The ThinPrint Client is integrated or ready to install on almost all leading thin clients out there on the market. For a list of supported devices click here.

While in-house printing is usually not a problem, it turns into quite a challenge for remote locations and branch or home office users. The following scenarios show you just how this problem is solved quickly and easily with ThinPrint.

What if the devices you have or plan to use don’t have ThinPrint support for RDP or ICA ?

No worries, you can use RDP, ICA/HDX for your sessions and print via TCP/IP. In this scenario, you can still print via ThinPrint using TCP/IP outside the virtual channel – even from a Terminal Server or with Citrix XenApp.

Thin Client printing via TCP/IP

TCP/IP printing is also possible in scenarios where you do not use a ThinPrint Client on a thin client, but instead use a ThinPrint Client on the printer or on a local print server.

We recommend a dedicated central print server for many reasons. The most important reason is to keep as much of the printing process off the RDSH, including the printer drivers. While users connect to their sessions via RDP or ICA/HDX, the print workflow is routed from the application to the central print server. On the print server, the print job is rendered and then transferred to the remote location via TCP/IP and optimized by ThinPrint.

What if you do have thin clients or printers in remote locations that you cannot target by IP address?

If you have masked networks e.g. because you are printing over the internet to remote locations, then this is where the ThinPrint Secure Tunnel really comes into play. It establishes a print connection from the client side, and vice versa. If required, it also encrypts print jobs. We recommend using the ThinPrint Hub as a ThinPrint client in this special scenario.
The print server and thin client don’t need to be visible to each other. This makes it ideal for the DMZ and multiple firewalls.

Another way for thin client printing with ThinPrint

Best of breed: thin client printing

The most versatile option is the ThinPrint Hub. A small piece of hardware, it is simply added to the local network. There is no limitation to the amount of network printers you can connect to it (additionally 4 USB printers can also be connected) and of course this works with any thin client. It’s configured with just a few clicks and is virtually maintenance free. You can even group two ThinPrint Hubs per location to create load balancing and Failover. The ThinPrint Hub also supports the secure tunnel mentioned in the scenario above. Printing to remote locations doesn’t get any better or easier than this.

Bottom line

ThinPrint enables you to print with almost any thin client and gives you a range of options to set things up, meaning that ThinPrint can fit perfectly into your network and fulfill your requirements. If you’ve got any questions about, simply contact us. We also have a white paper Better Printing with Thin Clients and Zero Clients which goes into more detail on this topic.

]]>In many organizations printing from backend systems is an important part of everyday printing, but a silo print solution, that’s treated like a “never touch a running system”. That concerns ERP printing e.g. from SAP as well as Oracle printing, or in the medical sector like printing from Mc Kesson, Cerner or Epic. In all these scenarios ThinPrint integrates backend printing into the same print system as all other print jobs. Thus ThinPrint performance, high availability and security advantages apply and ThinPrint tracking and reporting always show the complete picture of print traffic, -cost and -behavior.

In VDI/Remote App scenarios there’s an additional challenge. Roaming users login from different devices and locations and need the printout next to where they are. Backend printing however is only possible to predefined network printers. ThinPrint overcomes this challenge, too.

In this BLOG I’d like to take a look at both scenarios. The first sceanario is about integrating backend printing like CRM, EMR or ERP printing, CRM in general into the printing via a ThinPrint print server. The second scenario cares specifically at the VDI/Remote app scenario.

1. Backend printing via LPR via the ThinPrint Server

In the first scenario, the backend systems from different platforms (often Unix) sends the print jobs via LPR to the ThinPrint Engine, which is running on a Windows server. From the ThinPrint Engine, the print job is sent with all ThinPrint performance features – compression, streaming, bandwidth control – and optionally TLS/SSL encrypted to guarantee low impact of printing on the network as well as fast printing and security of print data while print jobs travel to the printer. With ThinPrint clients integrated in printers, this is even possible all the way up to the printer.

ThinPrint advantages also apply to automated batch printing, for example printing of all receipts and letters at the end of each week. These print jobs can become very large. Without regulation, print jobs grab all available bandwidth which might result in a negative user experience. Therefore it is important to control and compress print data to prevent an impact on other data streams.
Even if print jobs have to travel to remote locations, e.g. to a remote warehouse, ThinPrint advantages do apply. Only the ThinPrint Client, e.g. a ThinPrint Hub is needed in the remote location. The ThinPrint Hub is a small box that can be shipped to the branch office, plugged into the network and then securely connects branch office printers to the central ThinPrint print server. No VPN is necessary to do so, the ThinPrint Secure Tunnel establishes an encrypted connection, like a VPN just for printing.

High availability of print services is another important ThinPrint advantage. Both the ThinPrint print servers as well as the ThinPrint clients – like the ThinPrint Hub or a ThinPrint client integrated into a printer – can be setup with load balancing and failover reacting to print specific issues. This is guaranteeing great performance and reliable printing at the same time. If e.g. a printer with integrated ThinPrint client stops working, ThinPrint automatically switches to the printer next to it. This can come in handy especially in the batch printing scenario, where nobody is checking the output while jobs are printed.

If a printer with integrated ThinPrint client stops working, ThinPrint automatically switches to the printer next to it.

If backend systems are accessed via apps that run in a Citrix XenApp/XenDesktop or Microsoft VDI/Remote App session, users are often logging in from changing locations and devices. Printing from backend systems however is usually rigid and only possible to predefined network printers. Here, another ThinPrint feature comes in very handy: The ThinPrint Host Integration Service can flexibly include the print job into the user session, enabling users to print to any printer they’re allowed to.

The ThinPrint Engine can either run on a Windows print server (like in the scenario above) or directly on the Terminal Server/RDSH. Either way, the print job is sent via the RDP or ICA/HDX protocol, which has an advantage and disadvantage at the same time (advantage: no need to configure TCP/IP, disadvantage: it’s usually best to keep printing out of the session). As always, even when print jobs are sent via RDP or ICA/HDX the ThinPrint performance advantages of compression, caching, bandwidth control and streaming make printing thin, smooth and fast.

ThinPrint assigns the fitting printers by mapping them based on different criteria, like IP address range, device that logs in and user/group name. ThinPrint Printer Self Service enables users to flexibly choose additional printers (with the according rights) by themselves at any time. The administrator no longer has to make manual changes to the backend, each time a user needs to print from another location or to another printer.

Bottom line: No matter from which device or location the users connect from, they can print to any printer that they’re allowed to, including locally connected printers and the admins no longer have to perform manual tasks each and every time.

In global companies, international and secure pull printing can be helpful

9 a.m. – Berlin headquarters: While reading an important document, I realize that I’ll also need it later on paper so I click on print.

3 p.m. – London branch office: I arrive early at the meeting room and think it’s odd that it’s sunny here while it was raining in Berlin. Then I remember the document and realize it would be handy to show it to the others at the meeting. I just walk over to the nearest printer, authenticate with my smartphone and my print out comes out right away.

OK, while we don’t actually have an office in London, many of our customers do have various office locations either within one country or even internationally. Thanks to ThinPrint Personal Printing they benefit from high-performance pull printing, even in a global scenario.

How International Pull Printing Works

With ThinPrint Personal Printing, print jobs can be parked and processed on a print server located in a central data center. ThinPrint specific features like compression, streaming and encryption of print data during transmission can be used to guarantee fast and secure printing even via thin bandwidths and over long distances.

Another option on how to setup Personal Printing is to have a print server with Personal Printing in multiple locations. One server could be in the Berlin headquarters and another in the data center in London. Of course this also would work with data centers in Hong Kong, New York or anywhere else.

As long as the users are in their main location, they print to and from the Personal Printing print server in that location. So in the example I mentioned above, I’m located in Berlin and thus my print job gets securely parked on the server in Berlin. When I authenticate at the printer in London (via access card, smartcard or smartphone/tablet) the Personal Printing server in London accesses the storage of the Personal Printing server in Berlin and retrieves the print job from there. I get the print job in London quickly and can proudly show off my document in the meeting.

International pull printing with ThinPrint: In Berlin the user starts his print job by choosing Personal Printing as the printer. After flying to London, he authenticates at a network printer e.g. with a barcode or smartcard and immediately gets his printout.

Four Advantages of Global Pull Printing with Personal Printing

A pull printing solution that performs well throughout all locations of a customer kills four birds with just the one stone:

Less admin tasks for the IT department: Users don’t need to get printers assigned to them for each location they visit.

Flexibility for the users: They walk up to any printer in their organization and instantly get their printout – without having to choose the right printer from a long list.

Security: The print job is only printed when the user is at the printer, thus confidential data never falls into the wrong hands.

Reduces cost and protects the environment: No more piles of paper next to the printer that consist of printouts that are never picked up.

You can try out Personal Printing with your own printers for free and without needing any additional hardware. Download a free demoversion of Personal Printing.

Encrypting communication that takes place via the internet is now considered standard. This applies not only to online banking, but also to normal corporate websites or chat in social networks like WhatsApp. This trend increased in pace in the summer of 2013 with Edward Snowden’s revelations and even further with the Safe Harbor ruling by the European Court of Justice in October 2015.

On the other hand, print jobs are still sent to network printers mostly unencrypted. This is mainly due to the fact that print data doesn’t usually leave the company network. But here too, awareness of data security is increasing. From the point of view of data protection, personal data should never be sent in an unencrypted way over a network, because network analysis tools make it very easy to read the data traffic, and that includes print data. So the best choice is end-to-end-encryption.

Scenarios

In corporate networks, sensitive data shouldn’t be stored on workstations because the data can easily be stolen together with the hardware. In addition, the programs that handle such data shouldn’t run directly on a workstation, but rather on a terminal server or on virtual desktops. This means that the data is always stored in the data center and can be centrally protected against unauthorized access.

However, when printing sensitive data, it must leave the data center. Data must be sent to the printer via the corporate network. In order to ensure the necessary levels of protection, encryption of print data is also a sensible approach. The data is encrypted on the terminal server or on a print server, sent to the printer, and then decrypted in the printer (see scenarios below).

End-to-end encrypted printing from a terminal server

End-to-end encrypted printing from a print server

Putting It Into Practice with ThinPrint

In order to profit from End-to-End Encryption, you will need a server to install the ThinPrint Engine, the ThinPrint License Server, and certificates for encryption, as well as an HP printer with the FutureSmart option (see below), where you install the ThinPrint Client and a certificate for encryption.

To install the ThinPrint Client on the HP printer, open its web interface, log in as an administrator, and select Solution Installer (see screenshot below). Here you can upload the software and then start the installation by clicking Install.

Screenshot 1: Install the ThinPrint Client on an HP printer

Screenshot 2: Upload the certificate in the security section

Then you can activate the end-to-end-encryption with Use SSL in the ThinPrint Client and select the uploaded certificate (Screenshot 3). Click on Save to complete the configuration.

An external gateway appliance with integrated ThinPrint Client can be used for all other types of printers, which is simply connected to the printer via USB (which means that the decrypted data cannot be accessed from the network). The ThinPrint Hub and the SEH PS03a are suitable for this purpose.

Further information about end-to-end encryption and other ThinPrint features can be found in the manual.

]]>Cloud Printing – Simplify IT, Reduce Costs, Provide Better Servicehttps://blog.thinprint.com/thinprint-cloud-printing/
Wed, 22 Feb 2017 13:08:33 +0000https://blog.thinprint.com/?p=241In our "5 Reasons Data Center Transformation is Good for Printing" blog series, we show you the most important advantages of the private cloud service. In this article, let’s take a step towards the public cloud service for print management. Learn from this brief article how easy it is to integrate ThinPrint Cloud Services into your organization and simplify IT processes, reduce costs, and optimize cloud printing services.

Go one step further and really benefit from cloud printing. Focus on a company with many years of experience in printing and simplify your print-related IT operations, reduce printing costs, and enable new services. In our previous articles we highlighted the most important reasons why printing should be dealt with as a private cloud service that is centrally run and managed, with users connecting as and when needed:

5 Reasons Data Center Transformation is Good for Printings: Over the past few years, applications, data repositories, management of all types of devices, and more has been centralized. Unprecedented savings have been generated thanks to server virtualization. Customers have access to secure, reliable and convenient services, and printing should not be an exception.

Printer Drivers: The Fewer the Better: In this article, we’ll tell you about printer drivers which are large, complex and resistant to change – basically IT dinosaurs. But they can be managed and given a dedicated space within the private cloud that is built to suit their needs and eccentricities in order to best utilize their strength.

Reduce Printing Costs and Resources: Here we focus on how to save IT resources and reduce printing costs by treating the printing process like a private cloud service that is centrally run and managed.

But what conclusion can be drawn from this information? Would you like to print centrally without having to entirely build your own printing service in the company and learn the required specialist knowledge? Then we have the right solution for you – cloud printing from ThinPrint.

How it works is really simple – the existing print infrastructure can be connected to the cloud service using an agent that’s run on existing print servers or central workstations like a receptionist’s computer. If neither is available, a simple, inexpensive computer costing less than $300 can be installed to serve a location like a larger branch or remote site. User administration is simply part of the cloud service and groups of users can be assigned to groups of printers with just a few clicks. Users will install a simple, easy to use application on their machine that will connect them to the printers assigned to them and the printers will show up as usual in the “print” menu of their application. This is just one aspect that helps keep training requirements to a minimum. iOS and Android apps are available and this enables users to print from their mobile devices to the printers assigned to them.

ThinPrint Cloud Services include a billing component to track print volume and enable end users to be charged, for example in guest printing scenarios such as printing in schools, university campuses, public spaces, coworking spaces and other shared spaces looking to provide billable printing services to their users. Cloud printing is one of the newer options in the cloud services space but perfectly suited to simplify IT operations, reduce costs and enable new services and scenarios.

]]>VPN-Free Branch Office and Field Office Printinghttps://blog.thinprint.com/vpn-free-branch-office-printing/
Thu, 16 Feb 2017 11:08:56 +0000https://blog.thinprint.com/?p=226This article explains how to realize branch office printing even for those printers that are hidden behind a masked network, even in locations without VPN.

]]>In this blogpost we will explain how to enable the ThinPrint Secure Tunnel with the ThinPrint Hub.

The ThinPrint Hub is already know by some of you from previous blog entries. For the newcomers though, the ThinPrint Hub combined with the ThinPrint Engine allows you to eliminate local print servers without any of the disadvantages associated with losing them. There are even a number of advantages that you gain in the process. You no longer have to maintain printer drivers on numerous print servers, instead there is only one print server at a central location.

In this article, I’ll show you how to integrate even those printers that are hidden behind a masked network, even in locations without VPN.

Integrating branch office printing without VPN

At most remote sites, companies use masked networks, and a VPN tunnel would be needed to address printers. This is not necessary with ThinPrint as this is where the ThinPrint Secure Tunnel takes over, specifically for printing. The ThinPrint Connection Service creates a secure communication link, the ThinPrint Secure Tunnel, from the ThinPrint Hub in the branch office to the central ThinPrint printing system in the data center.

Via this tunnel, print jobs are transmitted to branch offices and then distributed to the network printers by the ThinPrint Client (for example a ThinPrint Hub). No direct connection from the central ThinPrint Engine to the printers is necessary and the ThinPrint Engine doesn’t need to know the IP address of the printers in the branch offices. In addition, print data can be transferred securely through TLS/SSL-encryption. Print jobs often contain highly sensitive data and should be just as protected as confidential documents.

Components:

There are several ways to set up the ThinPrint Secure Tunnel for branch office printing. In this article I’ll show a best practice installation involving a ThinPrint Hub and a DMZ:

1 Windows 2008 or later print server, with an installed ThinPrint Engine

How to enable VPN-free branch office printing with ThinPrint Hub and ThinPrint Connection Service

Configuring the ThinPrint Secure Tunnel for branch office printing

After installing the ThinPrint Connection Service on the Windows server in the DMZ, a snap-in is available for the Microsoft Management Console to configure the ThinPrint Connection Service. Here, print servers which are destined to print via the ThinPrint Secure Tunnel, can be authorized. To do so, add the IPv4 addresses in the settings. By default, print jobs are permitted by all print servers. I recommend however to limit this to the necessary print servers.

The ThinPrint Client connections are also stored, i.e. an ID and an authentication key are assigned to each client. This ID is used to name the printers so that the Connection Service is informed of the printer to be addressed for each print job.

In order for the server in the DMZ to communicate with the clients in the branch offices and the print servers in the control center, the 4000 and 4001 ports must be opened inbound.

Configuration of the Print Server

Normally, several simple ThinPrint ports are sufficient in order to print with ThinPrint. However, if you want to use the ThinPrint Secure Tunnel, select the ThinPrint Connection Service Port in the ThinPrint Port Manager. If you open its properties, only the internal address of the Connection Service should be stored for the default configuration.

Tip: It’s best to create several of these ports per branch office and activate port pooling. This prevents a print job that gets stuck from blocking the entire branch office.

Configuration of the ThinPrint Hub

Last but not least to be configured is the ThinPrint Hub. To complete this, open the web console of the ThinPrint Hub, log in, and go to the ThinPrint section of the menu on the left of the screen. Once there, place a checkmark at the Connection Service, which automatically then activates the service.

The web console of the ThinPrint Hub

The external address of the Connection Service must be specified as the address. The port can be modified, but it must then also be updated on the server side of the Connection Service to enable a seamless connection. The last step is to specify the client ID for this ThinPrint Hub as well as the associated authentication key.

You can see whether a connection from the client to the Connection Service has been established in the Connection Service Management Console. At the Connections section you can see that the relevant client is marked as connected.

Result:

If these steps have been followed, then the ThinPrint Hub contacts the Connection Service and ensures that the connection remains intact. This allows you to connect printers in branch offices or other remote locations, with a highly-secure architecture with masked networks, multiple firewalls and DMZ, without the need for a VPN. Finally, if required, data transmission can be fully encrypted providing an additional layer of security.

]]>How Does Rendering Work? – ThinPrint Video Tutorial Part 5https://blog.thinprint.com/rendering/
Thu, 02 Feb 2017 03:35:36 +0000https://blog.thinprint.com/?p=206With any printimg job, rendering the document is essential. Our tutorial video, 'Basics about printing: How does rendering work?' explains this process fully and in a way that makes it easy to understand.

In this video, you get to know EMF and XPS better as well as the whole rendering process in the Windows print system.

With any printing job, rendering the document is essential. Our instructional video, ‘Basics about printing: How does rendering work?’ explains this process fully and in a way that makes it easy to understand. Watch it to discover more or read below.
When prepping and rendering is taking place within a Windows environment, it is necessary to take into consideration two data types. The first sort of data type is called Graphic Device Interface (GDI) and is used with Win 32 apps. This is the most commonly used data type nowadays. The second data type is known as XPS, which can be found in things like MS Office Suite or WinFX Runtime. Let’s deal with each data type in turn.

Apps using GDI Win 32

Applications can use the Windows GDI to translate what appears on the screen to something that will be rendered on paper. Users may print to EMF printer queues with GDI. The GDI creates an enhanced metafile, or EMF, something which the print queue can handle thanks to an EMF driver. A dynamic link library (DLL) for printer graphics then takes over. This is commonly supplied by the printer manufacturer rather than Windows and it undertakes all of the EMF rendering that is necessary for the printer in a suitable format.
GDI can also be used with XPS printer queues by applying a conversion path. If a GDI app is used with an XPS driver, then usually Microsoft’s own XPS converter will do the conversion work. After this stage, the print job moves on to the printer queue just as before. However, this time the rendering takes place with a Print Filter Pipeline Manager. It is within this piece of software that the codes for the manufacturer’s printer drivers are integrated.

Apps using XPS Win 32

Applications can also print directly to printer queues with XPS drivers without the need for a conversion path. However, if this type of app is used in conjunction with an EMF printer queue, then the XPS must be converted to an EMF for the rendering to work properly.

Which Data Type?

Although both data types can work with either sort of print queue, conversion paths can take a lot of processing power. Rendering of small print jobs is not usually problematic, but large ones can take a great deal of time to convert. Therefore, it is best to use a GDI with an EMF driver and XPS with an XPS driver.

]]>High Availability: Highest Levels of Printing Reliabilityhttps://blog.thinprint.com/high-availability-printing-2/
Tue, 31 Jan 2017 13:41:30 +0000https://blog.thinprint.com/?p=214High availability, more scalability, reliable security, and high flexibility are the key benefits for enterprises when they replace their data centers with private cloud solutions. ThinPrint eliminates all print-specific risks, protects the printing processes in the private cloud during a failure and ensures high availability and load balancing during printing.

Increased high availability for the infrastructure is one of the reasons for companies to deploy and manage their enterprise applications from a private cloud. In addition, there are even more advantages: more scalability, reliable security and high flexibility, to name just a few. The private cloud is a major change for organizations. At the same time, more and more companies are leveraging third-party cloud services and replacing their data centers with private cloud solutions. Changing your data center is the perfect opportunity to take a closer look at how to enable printing with more protection against loss of printing to more high availability.

In this part, I would like to show you how printing operations can be brought back up and running following a failure thanks to ThinPrint’s high availability and load balancing.

With ThinPrint, the print system itself no longer has a single point of failure. ThinPrint servers can be bundled into high availability groups with load balancing. Two or more ThinPrint servers will not only share the print workload but also deliver the jobs as quickly as possible. In addition to monitoring if the servers are generally running, ThinPrint looks at print specific health indicators to determine if a server is deemed to be in good working order or has shut down or reached the customer-defined threshold that disqualifies it from further use until IT has inspected the recorded issues. Once a high availability event is triggered, users’ printer connections are automatically, seamlessly remapped to a different server in the high availability group and users can continue to print without interruption. This is a far more secure approach than the previously used print server clusters or server virtualization based approaches since it covers print specific health indicators and requires no intervention from IT or the user to remap the users’ connections. This approach eliminates all troubleshooting on hundreds or even thousands of user workstations with different operating systems, different base line configurations and individual system issues that all could impact printing. With ThinPrint, a centralized private cloud print system becomes as easy to use and maintain and is as reliable as a public cloud service but remains fully under the organization’s control.

Since printing not only requires that print jobs be reliably processed before being sent to the printer but also need to be received reliably, ThinPrint offers high availability and load balancing for the client side as well. If any of the components installed at the branch/remote site to decompress or decrypt print jobs and to establish reverse tunnels (to eliminate the need for VPNs) become unresponsive, traffic is immediately rerouted to a client component with an identical configuration. These client components can be installed on user workstations, thin clients, remote print servers or ideally be delivered by the ThinPrint Hub in the form of a compact, cost effective and easy to deploy appliance.

With both the private side that processes the print jobs and the branch/remote site highly available and running highly efficiently through load balancing, ThinPrint eliminates all the print specific risks while enabling the full benefits of a centralized private cloud print service.